JPH10309842A - Recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To scan a carriage smoothly and make dots small in diameter or multigradational, etc., i.e., enhance record accuracy, by constituting a press member set at the carriage not to press a guide member in an area excluding a predetermined area of a reciprocating scan area of the carriage. SOLUTION: A slide face 585 of an adjusting lever 581 butts to a guide rail 82 because of a weight of a carriage 50 and a recording head in a recording scan area of a carriage part, so that the carriage 50 is positioned. Moreover, a butting part 582a of a press lever 582 hits a stopper part 581a of the adjusting lever 581. Therefore a press force by the press lever 582 does not act to the guide rail 82. No torsion acts to the carriage 50, enabling the carriage to scan smoothly. Since a slide load of the carriage 50 is reduced, a mechanism related to the reciprocating scan of the carriage 50 is improved in durability.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a serial type recording apparatus in which a carriage holding a recording head performs main scanning in a direction intersecting with a conveying direction of a recording medium (sub-scanning direction).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A recording device having a function such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile or the like, or a recording device used as an output device of a composite electronic device or a workstation including a computer or a word processor, etc. It is configured to record an image on a recording material (recording medium) such as a plastic thin plate. The recording apparatus can be classified into an ink jet type, a wire dot type, a thermal type, a laser beam type and the like according to a recording method.

In a serial type recording apparatus employing a serial scanning system in which a main scan is performed in a direction intersecting a conveying direction (sub-scanning direction) of a recording material, a recording means mounted on a carriage which moves along the recording material. The image is printed (main scanning), a predetermined amount of paper is fed (pitch transport) after printing of one line is completed, and then the image of the next line is printed on the stopped recording material again. By repeating the operation of (main scanning), recording on the entire recording material is performed.

[0004] As a conventional serial type recording apparatus, there is one in which a carriage on which a recording head is removably mounted is slidably mounted on a guide shaft and a guide rail provided in parallel with each other. The carriage is coupled to a portion of a timing belt that is wrapped around a pulley fixed to an output shaft of the carriage motor and an idle pulley rotatably supported by a shaft. Is scanned back and forth. Further, the carriage is provided with a sheet distance adjusting unit for adjusting the gap between the recording head and the recording material.

The inter-paper distance adjusting section will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining a paper distance adjusting unit of a carriage of a conventional serial type recording apparatus. The carriage 1050 shown in FIG.
1 corresponds to a view of the carriage 50 of FIG. 1 showing an embodiment of the present invention, which will be described later, as viewed from above.

[0006] As shown in FIG.
An adjustment lever 1581, a pressure contact lever 1582, a pressure contact spring 1583,
A top cover 1584 is provided.

The adjustment lever 1581 is connected to the carriage 105
A pin is inserted into a hole provided in the shaft 0 and is rotatably supported. The adjusting lever 1581 has a polygonal sliding surface 1585 having a different distance from the rotation center of the adjusting lever 1581 in accordance with the number of sheet distance positions. The press contact lever 1582 is rotatably supported around a pin provided on the carriage 1050, and the press contact spring 1583 moves the sliding surface 1585 of the adjustment lever 1581 to the guide rail 1.
When described with reference to FIG. 1, for example, by biasing to 082, it is rotationally biased so as to displace the upper part of the carriage 50 toward the near side around the guide shaft 81. Here, by changing the sliding surface 1585 of the adjustment lever 1581, the carriage 1050 rotates about the guide shaft 1081, so that the distance between sheets can be changed. Top cover 15
84 is fixed to the carriage 1050 by claws formed on both sides, and holds an adjustment lever 1581, a pressure contact lever 1582, and the like. The adjustment lever 1581 has elasticity, and a protrusion is formed at the tip thereof. And this convex part,
The adjustment lever 1581 is fixed by being fitted into one of a plurality of grooves formed at a predetermined position of the top cover 1584 to form a predetermined distance between sheets.

Further, the ink jet recording apparatus is provided with a recovery mechanism at one end of a reciprocating scanning range of the carriage for performing a recovery process on a recording head mounted on the carriage. The recovery mechanism has a cap for removing the thickened ink in the print head and protecting the print head during non-printing. By using the carriage having the configuration shown in FIG. 15, the pressing lever presses the guide rail. The contact pressure between the recording head and the cap when the recording head comes into contact with the cap is obtained using the force of the recording head. The paper gap adjusting mechanism having such a configuration can easily adjust the paper gap with a simple structure,
In addition, since the contact pressure against the cap is obtained by using the urging force of the urging means, there is an advantage that a good recovery process of the recording head can be performed.

[0009]

In recent years, image quality has been remarkably improved, and the diameter of dots of a color recorded image, the number of gradations, and the like have been advanced. Among them, in the structure of the carriage in the conventional recording apparatus described above, the urging force for urging the recording head to the cap acts on the guide rail even during the scanning of the carriage, so that a force that twists the carriage, That is, as shown in FIG. 15, a force acts to rotate the carriage in the direction of the arrow with the contact portion between the guide rail 1082 and the sliding surface 1585 as the center of rotation, and a large load is applied to the scanning of the carriage. Therefore, if the sliding part with the guide rail wears due to long-term use and the slidability is deteriorated, stick-slip may occur, so that it is difficult to improve the recording position accuracy and the durability. Had become.

Therefore, the present invention provides an urging force for urging the carriage to rotate between a guide member for guiding the movement of the carriage and the carriage only in a predetermined area of the movement area of the carriage. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus capable of urging and displacing a carriage in a predetermined area while improving recording position accuracy and durability in an area other than the predetermined area.

Another aspect of the present invention is to improve the printing position accuracy and durability by applying a biasing force to the cap during non-printing, but by preventing a twisting force on the carriage during printing scanning of the carriage. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink jet recording apparatus for improving the recording quality.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, a recording apparatus according to the present invention comprises a carriage for reciprocally scanning a recording head for recording on a recording medium, and a guide for guiding the carriage in the reciprocating scanning direction. Means, a positioning member and a pressure contact member which are disposed opposite to each other with the guide means interposed between the carriage and the carriage, wherein the pressure contact member is located in an area other than the predetermined area in the reciprocating scanning area of the carriage. It is not pressed against the guide means, but is pressed against the guide means in the predetermined area.

According to the present invention, the carriage is reciprocally scanned along the guide means with the guide means positioned between the positioning member and the pressing member. Here, the pressing member is not pressed against the guide means in an area other than a predetermined area in the reciprocating scanning area of the carriage, so that the sliding load of the carriage during printing scan is reduced. As a result, a force that twists the carriage does not act, and smooth carriage scanning can be performed. On the other hand, in a predetermined area within the reciprocating scanning area of the carriage, the pressing member is pressed against the guide means, so that, for example, a sufficient urging force for rotating the carriage to cap the recording head on the cap means is obtained.

Further, the recording apparatus of the present invention has second guide means for supporting the carriage together with the guide means and guiding the carriage in the reciprocating scanning direction, wherein the carriage is provided with the second guide means as a center. May be provided rotatably. In this case, the positioning member is configured to be brought into contact with the guide means by the weight of the carriage and the recording head, so that the positioning of the carriage with respect to the guide means is made with a simple configuration. Further, since the guide means is a plate-like rail and the second guide means is a shaft, a simple and compact device configuration is obtained.

Further, the recording apparatus of the present invention has a regulating means for increasing a distance between the positioning member and the pressure contact member to be greater than a thickness of the guide means in a direction opposite to the positioning member. May be bent toward the press-contact member. According to this, since the interval between the positioning member and the pressure contact member is regulated by the regulation means, the urging force of the pressure contact member does not act on the guide means during the recording scan of the carriage. On the other hand, in a portion of the guide means corresponding to a predetermined area in the carriage movement area, the guide means is bent toward the pressing member, so that the urging force of the pressing member acts on the guide means.

In this case, the positioning member and the pressing member are
The positioning member is disposed so as to abut against the guide means at different positions in the direction opposite to the two and in the direction perpendicular to the reciprocating scanning direction of the carriage, and the positioning member contacts the guide means corresponding to a predetermined area in the carriage movement area. By notching at the contact portion, in the case of the cap of the recording head, the positioning member does not come into contact with the guide means, and only the pressure contact member comes into contact. As a result, the urging force of the pressure contact member reliably acts on the guide means, and a good cap is formed.

Further, the positioning member is rotatably supported by the carriage, and has different distances from the center of rotation, and abuts on the guide means according to the position of the positioning member in the rotation direction. It may have a plurality of sliding surfaces. According to this, the posture of the carriage with respect to the guide means changes by rotating the positioning member and changing the sliding surface that comes into contact with the guide means, so that the position of the recording head is changed according to the thickness of the recording medium. It can be changed. In this case, by configuring the regulating means with a surface that is formed at a position where the distance from each sliding surface is equal and that abuts on a portion different from the portion that presses against the guide means of the pressing member, the dimensional portion related to positioning is reduced. Since the number is reduced, it is possible to finely manage the gap between the guide means and the pressing member. Further, by forming the surface so that any one of the sliding surfaces is not in contact with the pressing member when the sliding surface is in contact with the guide means, for example, when the weight of the recording head is lighter than usual. When the positioning of the carriage with respect to the guide means is unstable, the positioning member is rotated so that the arbitrary sliding surface faces the guide means. As a result, the urging force of the pressing member acts on the guide unit even during printing scanning, and the position of the carriage with respect to the guide unit is stabilized.

[0018]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a recording apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Also, FIG.
FIG. 3 is a front view of the recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the configuration of the recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

The recording apparatus of the present embodiment is a serial type ink jet recording apparatus, and as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a carriage section 5 on which a recording head 7 is detachably mounted.
A paper feed unit 2, a paper feed unit 3, and a paper discharge unit 4 for transporting a sheet material P as a recording material, and a recovery processing unit for maintaining and recovering the ink ejection performance of the recording head 7 of the carriage unit 5. 7. Hereinafter, these components will be described with reference to FIGS.

(A) Sheet Feeding Unit The sheet feeding unit 2 is configured such that a pressure plate 21 for stacking the sheet material P and a feed rotating body 22 for feeding the sheet material P are attached to the base 20. A movable side guide 23 is provided on the pressure plate 21 so as to be movable in the width direction of the recording material, and regulates the stacking position of the sheet material P. The pressure plate 21 is rotatable about a rotation shaft connected to the base 20, and is urged by a pressure plate spring 24 to the feeding rotating body 22. Pressure plate spring 24
The contact between the pressure plate 21 and the feeding rotating body 22 due to the release cam 29 can be released. A separation pad 25 made of a material having a large coefficient of friction, such as artificial leather, is provided at a portion of the pressure plate 21 facing the feeding rotating body 22 to prevent double feeding of the sheet material P. Further, the base 20 is provided with a separation claw 26 for covering the corner at the lower end of the sheet material P and separating the sheet material P one by one. A bank 27 is formed integrally with the base 20 to separate the paperboard or the like that cannot be used with the separation claw 26. The separation claw 26 is operated in the plain paper position, and the separation claw 26 is operated in the thick paper position. A switching lever 28 for switching so as not to operate is provided.

In the above configuration, in the standby state, the release cam 29 pushes the pressure plate 21 down to a predetermined position. Thereby, the contact between the pressure plate 21 and the feeding rotating body 22 is released. In this state, the driving force due to the rotation of the transport roller 36 is supplied to the feed rotator 22 and the release cam 29 by a gear or the like.
The release cam 29 separates from the pressure plate 21 so that the pressure plate 21 rises, and the feed rotating body 22 and the sheet material P
Abuts. Then, the sheet material P is picked up by the rotation of the feeding rotating body 22 and starts to be fed, and is separated one by one by the separating claw 26 and sent to the sheet feeding unit 3. The feed rotator 22 and the release cam 29 feed the sheet material P to the sheet feeding section 3.
, And is brought into a standby state in which the contact between the recording sheet P and the feed rotator 22 is released again, and the driving force from the transport roller 36 is cut off.

(B) Paper Feeding Section The paper feeding section 3 includes a transport roller 36 for transporting the sheet material P,
PE sensor 32 for detecting the front and rear ends of sheet material P
And The transport roller 36 is provided with a pinch roller 37 that follows the roller. The pinch roller 37 is held by the pinch roller guide 30 and presses the pinch roller 37 against the transport roller 36 by the biasing force of a pinch roller spring (not shown) to generate a transport force for the sheet material P. Further, an upper guide 33 and a platen 34 for guiding the sheet material P are provided at an entrance of the sheet feeding unit 3 to which the sheet material P is conveyed.

The upper guide 33 has a leading end of the sheet P,
A PE sensor lever 35 for transmitting the rear end detection to the PE sensor 32 is provided. The carriage unit 5 described below includes
A recording head 7 that ejects ink based on image information is detachably mounted on the carriage unit 5, which is disposed downstream of the transport roller 36 in the sheet transport direction.

In the above configuration, the sheet material P sent to the sheet feeding section 3 is supplied to the platen 34 and the pinch roller guide 30.
Then, the sheet is guided by the upper guide 33 to be sent to a pair of rollers including a transport roller 36 and a pinch roller 37. At this time,
The PE sensor lever 35 detects the leading end of the conveyed sheet material P, and thereby obtains the stamped position of the sheet material P. Further, the sheet material P is rotated by the roller pair 36, 37 by an LF motor (not shown) so that the platen 3
4 is conveyed.

Although the recording head 7 of this embodiment uses an easily replaceable ink jet recording head integrally formed with the ink tank, the recording head and the ink tank are separated from each other. A configuration in which only the recording head unit is mounted on the carriage and the ink tank is not mounted on the carriage (that is, mounted on an appropriate position in the apparatus main body housing) may be adopted. The recording head 7 can apply heat to the ink by a heater or the like.
The ink causes film boiling due to the heat, and the ink is ejected from the recording head 7 by a pressure change caused by growth or shrinkage of bubbles due to the film boiling, and an image is formed on the sheet material P. Further, the recording head 7 may include an electro-mechanical converter such as a piezo or the like, and discharge ink using energy generated by the converter.

In the above configuration, when an image is formed on the sheet material P, the roller pair 36, 37 conveys the sheet material P to the line position (position in the conveying direction of the sheet material P) where the image is formed, and the carriage motor 80 Carriage 50
Is moved to a row position (a position perpendicular to the conveying direction of the sheet material P) where the image is formed, and the recording head 7 is opposed to the image forming position. Thereafter, ink is ejected from the recording head 7 toward the sheet material P by a signal from the electric board 9 to form an image.

(C) Paper Discharge Unit In the paper discharge unit 4, the transmission roller 40 is provided in contact with the transport roller 36, and the transmission roller 40 is provided in contact with the paper discharge roller 41. Therefore, the driving force of the transport roller 36 is transmitted to the discharge roller 41 via the transmission roller 40. Further, a spur 42 that can rotate following the paper discharge roller 41 is in contact with the paper discharge roller 41. With the above configuration, the sheet material P on which an image has been formed by the carriage unit 5 is nipped by the nip between the discharge roller 41 and the spur 42, conveyed, and discharged to a discharge tray (not shown).

(D) Recovery Processing Unit The recovery processing unit 6 includes a pump 60 for performing the ejection recovery processing of the recording head 7 and drying of the ink in the ink ejection ports of the recording head 7 during non-recording (during non-recording operation). The recording head 7 is used for suppressing the recording head 7, protecting the recording head 7, and sucking the thickened ink and the like in the recording head to remove the ink from the recording head.
61 for capping the transfer roller 36
And a drive switching arm 62 for switching the driving force from the power supply to the paper feed unit 2 and the pump 60. The drive switching arm 62 fixes a planetary gear (not shown) that rotates about the axis of the transport roller 36 at a predetermined position except for the paper feeding or the ejection recovery processing of the recording head 7. The driving force of the transport roller 36 is not transmitted to the section 2 and the pump 60. When the drive switching arm 62 is moved in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1 by moving a carriage 50, which will be described later, the planetary gears become free, and the planetary gears move in accordance with the forward and reverse rotations of the transport roller 36. When the transport roller 36 rotates forward, the driving force is transmitted to the paper feeding unit 2, and when the transport roller 36 rotates reversely, the driving force is transmitted to the pump 60.

(E) Carriage section The carriage section 5 has a carriage 50 on which the recording head 7 is detachably mounted. The carriage 50 is slidably fitted in a guide shaft 81 and a guide rail 82 attached to the chassis 8 in parallel with each other in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the sheet material P is conveyed. Carriage 50
Is connected to one portion of a timing belt 83 wrapped around a pulley 801 fixed to an output shaft of a carriage motor 80 fixed to the chassis 8 and an idle pulley 84 rotatably supported. Motor 80
And reciprocate by the driving force. Further, the carriage 50 is provided with the recording head 7 from the electric substrate 9.
And a flexible substrate 56 for transmitting an electric signal to the electronic device.

As shown in FIG. 14, the recording head 7 is of a cartridge type in which a nozzle 70 for discharging ink and an ink tank 73 for holding ink to be supplied to the nozzle 70 are integrated. The nozzle 70 and the ink tank 73 are fixed to the base plate 72, respectively. Note that the detailed configuration of the recording head 7 will be described as appropriate.

In the above configuration, when an image is formed on the sheet material P, the conveying roller 36 and the pinch roller 37 convey the sheet material P to the line position (position in the conveying direction of the sheet material P) where the image is formed, and the carriage Motor 80
To move the carriage 50 to the row position where the image is formed (the position perpendicular to the sheet material P transport direction), and the recording head 7 is opposed to the image forming position. Thereafter, ink is ejected from the recording head 7 toward the sheet material P by a signal from the electric board 9 to form an image.

Next, the details of the main parts of the carriage unit 5 will be described.

The carriage section 5 forms a unit by attaching each component to the carriage 50. 4 is a front view of the carriage unit 5, FIG. 5 is a plan view of the carriage unit 5, FIG.
FIG. 7 shows a plan view (a) and a front view (b) of a head holder 51 which is a main part of a detachable mechanism of the recording head 7.

As shown in FIG. 4 to FIG.
Has a head holder 51 for holding the recording head 7. The head holder 51 is configured to slide left and right along a guide 501 provided on the carriage 50. The recording head 7 is attached to the head holder 51.
And a contact surface 503 and 3 of a side plate 502 erected perpendicularly to the carriage 50.
A pressing portion 512 for pressing the recording head 7 against the two positioning surfaces 504 is provided. There are three positioning surfaces of the side plate 502 of the carriage. The configuration is such that two points correspond to the base plate 72 in the vicinity of the nozzle portion 70 of the recording head 7 and one point corresponds above the ink tank 73 of the recording head 7. A contact surface 503 between the recording head 7 and the carriage 50 is formed by three positioning surfaces 504.
It is configured to be located inside the prism. The pressing position of the pressing portion 512 of the head holder 51 is also inside this triangle.

The pressing portion 512 of the head holder 51
A guide arm 513 is provided at a position facing the recording head 7, and the guide arm 513 acts on the recording head 7 when the recording head 7 is separated from the contact surface 503. The side plate 502 of the carriage 50 is provided with a rib 509 which also serves as a guide when the head 7 is attached and detached, and protects and shields a contact portion 561 of the flexible substrate 56 described later.

As shown in FIG. 14, the recording head 7 has
A guide 74 is provided on a side surface of the ink tank 73 and is mounted along the upper surface of the guide arm 513. At a predetermined position where the recording head 7 is mounted, a concave portion 75 is provided in the guide 74 of the recording head 7, and a convex portion 514 as a regulating means is provided at a position corresponding to the head holder 51. Further, a convex portion 76 is provided on the bottom surface of the recording head 7, and a concave portion 515 corresponding to the convex portion 76 is provided on a corresponding receiving portion of the head holder 51.
As a result, when the head 7 is mounted, the nozzle portion 70 does not hit the platen 34 or the like, and the recording head 7 is not damaged. Then, a click feeling at the time of mounting is obtained, and the mounting feeling is improved. Also, the head holder 51
The protrusion of the recording head 7 can prevent the recording head 7 from dropping to the near side when the recording head 7 is attached or detached, and can eliminate an unstable feeling such as a positional shift after mounting.

The hook lever 53 is rotatably attached to the side plate 502 of the carriage 50. A contact spring 54 is provided at the center of rotation of the hook lever 53,
The hook lever 53 is urged in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. The hook cover 55 is attached so as to cover the hook lever 53, and holds the hook lever 53 so as not to come off the carriage 50. As shown in FIG. 7, the hook lever 53 and the head holder 51 have cams 516 and 531 respectively abutting on each other, and are configured so that the rotation of the hook lever 53 causes the head holder 51 to move in the left-right direction. I have. The urging force of the contact spring 54 is a pressing force of the recording head 7 of the head holder 51 via the hook lever 53.

As shown in FIG. 6, two fitting pins 505a and 505b for positioning the recording head 7 are provided on the side plate 502 of the carriage 50, and fitting holes 77a and 77b (in the base plate 72 of the recording head 7). 14 (see FIG. 14). The base plate 72 of the recording head 7 is inclined at an angle of about 1 ° to about 4 ° with respect to the scanning direction of the carriage unit 5 from the driving of the recording head 7. In order to correspond to the inclined fitting holes 77a and 77b, one fitting hole 77a is formed into a square hole, and the corresponding fitting pin 505a on the carriage 50 side is set as shown in FIG. A square pin having a partial cylindrical shape 505d was used. Further, the other fitting hole 77b is a round hole, and the corresponding fitting pin 505b on the carriage is connected to the hole shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the undercut portion is removed from the mold structure of the carriage 50, and the positioning surface 5 of the carriage 50 is removed.
04 can be fitted at a position where the recording head 7 abuts (headset position). In this manner, the recording head 7 can be accurately and smoothly positioned even with respect to the inclined base plate 72 without requiring a complicated mold structure.

Further, on a contact surface 503 (see FIG. 4) provided on the side plate 502 of the carriage 50, a rubber hardness of 30 is provided for making electrical contact with the recording head 7.
A rubber pad 57 made of an elastic body such as silicone rubber of 50 ° to 50 ° is provided. The contact portion 561 of the flexible substrate 56 is located thereon. The rubber pad 57 and the flexible substrate 56 are both positioned by positioning pins 506 provided on the side plate 502 of the carriage 50. A slit 563 is provided on the opposite side of the contact portion 561 of the positioning portion of the flexible substrate 56.
Are provided so as not to affect the contact portion 561 due to deformation of the flexible substrate 56 during assembly.

Contact section 56 of flexible substrate 56
As shown in the enlarged view of FIG. 9, 1 has a tip portion 562 that is thinned in accordance with the shape of the base plate 72 of the recording head 7, and a hook portion 562a is provided at an end portion. In this manner, by forming the contact portion 561 in a triangular shape and reducing the number of contact pads toward the tip, the forming of the signal line becomes easy, and the density can be increased. Further, the processing of the distal end portion 562 of the flexible substrate 56 becomes easy.

The side plate 502 of the carriage 50 is provided with a slit hole 507 for inserting the front end 562 of the flexible substrate 56. When inserting the distal end portion 562 of the flexible substrate 56 into the slit hole 507, as shown in FIG. 9B, the distal end portion 562 of the flexible substrate 56 is warped and inserted into the slit hole 507. When the distal end portion 562 passes through the slit hole 507, the distal end portion 562 is straightened as shown in FIG. 9C and does not come off because it is caught by the slit hole 507. According to this configuration, since the tip 562 is free and the contact portion 561 of the flexible substrate 56 has no rigidity, the contact surface 78 of the recording head 7 (FIG. 14D)
) And good contact can be made. Here, when the recording head 7 is mounted, the contact surface 503 of the carriage 50 (see FIG. 4) is cut out 79 of the base plate 72 of the recording head 7 (see FIG. 14D).
And contacts the contact surface 78 on the substrate formed inside the cutout 79.

The flexible substrate 56 is routed along the side plate 502 of the carriage 50, folded vertically, and fixed to the carriage 50 by the base cover 52. At this time, the temporary fixing protrusion 563 (see FIG. 4) is provided on the flexible substrate 56, and the protrusion 563 is
Since the flexible substrate 56 can be fixed by keeping the value at 0, the assembling can be efficiently performed when the base cover 52 is attached. Further, the base cover 52
The rubber pad 57 and the flexible substrate 56
However, a retaining portion 521 is provided to prevent the pin 506 on the carriage 50 from coming off.

The recording head 7 is provided with a recess 731 (see FIG. 14D) for allowing the positioning pin 506 and the protrusion of the pressing portion 521 of the base cover 52 to escape. Therefore, since the length of the positioning pin 506 and the thickness of the pressing portion 502 of the base cover 52 can be increased, the rubber pad 57 and the flexible substrate 56 can be securely positioned and prevented from coming off. The flexible substrate 56 is fixed to the chassis 8 by a flexible fixing plate 85 (see FIG. 2), changes its curvature according to the position of the carriage unit 5, Recording head drive signal to recording head 7
To tell.

With the above-described configuration, the recording head 7 can be easily attached to and detached from the carriage section 5, held, positioned, and electrically contacted. When the recording head 7 is mounted, the hook lever 53 is raised upward as shown in FIG. 4A, and the head holder 51 is moved to the left so that the recording head 7 can be mounted. In this state, the recording head 7
When the hook lever 53 is rotated downward,
As shown in FIG. 4B, the head holder 51 moves to the right together with the recording head 7, and the positioning of the recording head 7, electrical contact and the like are performed. In this state, the sheet material P
Image formation is possible. Further, when the recording head 7 is removed from the carriage section 5, the hook lever 53 is raised upward to move the head holder 51 to the left, and the guide arm 513 of the head holder 51
Is pressed to the left, so that the recording head 7 is detached from the carriage unit 5.

On the upper part of the carriage 50, a recording sheet P
Adjusting section 58 for adjusting the gap between the recording head 7 and the platen 34 (see FIGS. 1 to 3) according to the thickness of the sheet.
Is provided. As shown in FIG. 5, the paper interval adjusting unit 58 includes an adjustment lever 581, a pressure contact lever 582, a pressure contact spring 5
83, and a top cover 584.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view of the positional relationship between the adjustment lever 581 and the press-contact lever 582 with respect to the guide rail 82 as viewed from the side. Hereinafter, the paper interval adjusting unit 58 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

The adjustment lever 581 has a pin 581b on the lower end surface.
The pin 581b is inserted into a hole provided in the carriage 50 and is configured to be rotatable. The adjusting lever 581 further has a polygonal prism-shaped sliding surface 585 in which the distance from the rotation center O of the adjusting lever 581 varies depending on the number of sheet-to-sheet distance positions. The pressure contact lever 582 is rotatable around a pin provided on the carriage 50,
The sliding surface 5 of the adjustment lever 581 is
The distal end facing the sliding surface 85 is urged toward the sliding surface 585. The carriage 50 is rotatable about a guide shaft 81, and the sliding surface 585 is configured to abut on the guide rail 82 by the weight of the carriage 50. Therefore, the sliding surface 585 of the adjustment lever 581 is
It is a positioning part in the rotation direction of 0.

At the base of the sliding surface 585 of the adjusting lever 581, there are provided stopper portions 581a whose distances from the respective positions of the sliding surface 585 are equal. That is, in FIG. 5, the distances A, B, and C from the sliding surface 585 to the end surface of the stopper portion 581a at the respective positions of the sliding surface 585 are all equal. Correspondingly, a contact portion 582a that contacts the stopper portion 581a is provided at the lower end of the pressure contact lever 582.
In the range where the carriage 50 performs the printing scan, the contact portion 58
8 contacts the stopper portion 587, and the pressing lever 58
The second guide surface 582b is approximately 0.3 m with the guide rail 82.
It has a gap of m to 1 mm. Pressing lever 582
Guide surface 582b is provided with a sliding surface 58 of the adjustment lever 581.
5 is provided at a position shifted by about 3 mm to 10 mm in a direction perpendicular to the scanning direction of the carriage 50. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. , And the guide surface of the pressure contact lever 582 is located above the guide rail 82.

As described above, in the recording scanning range of the carriage 5, the sliding surface 585 of the adjustment lever 581 abuts on the guide rail 82 by the weight of the carriage 50 and the recording head 7, thereby positioning the carriage 50. Will be In addition, the contact portion 582 of the pressing lever 582
Since a touches the stopper portion 581a of the adjustment lever 581, the pressing force against the guide rail 82 by the pressure contact lever 582 does not act. Therefore, the sliding load of the carriage 50 can be set small, and a force that twists the carriage 50 (such as rotating the carriage in the direction of the arrow around the contact portion between the guide 1081 and the sliding surface 1585 in FIG. 15 as the center of rotation). Force) does not act on the carriage 50, and smooth carriage scanning is possible. Further, since the sliding load of the carriage 50 is reduced, the durability of the mechanism relating to the reciprocal scanning of the carriage 50 is also improved. Further, since the load torque is reduced, it is possible to perform high-speed driving of the carriage 50, downsizing of the carriage motor and the like, cost reduction, and the like.

On the other hand, when performing the ejection recovery process of the recording head 7, the carriage 50 moves the recovery processing unit 6 (see FIG. 1).
(Recovery processing position). The recovery processing unit 6 is located outside the recording scanning range, which is one end of the entire scanning range of the carriage 50. The state of the carriage 50 at the recovery processing position will be described below with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 is a front view of the carriage at the recovery processing position, and FIG. 12 is a plan view of the carriage at the recovery processing position and a diagram for explaining the movement of the cam shaft.

As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, one end of the guide rail 82 on the side of the recovery processing section 6 (see FIG. 1) is bent forward (toward the press-contact lever 582) and is bent. The sliding surface 585 of the adjustment lever 581
The part opposite to is cut away. A cap guide 86 (also shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) having a mountain-shaped cam portion 861 is provided on an extension of the guide rail 82. The cap guide 86 is provided on the upper end surface of the carriage 50. A cam shaft 5011 that engages with the cam portion 861 is provided.

When the carriage 50 moves to the recovery position, the guide surface 582b of the pressing lever 582 is pressed by the guide rail 82, and the pressing lever 582 rotates.
Thus, the stopper portion 581a of the adjustment lever 581
And the contact portion 582a of the pressure contact lever 582 is separated. In this position, since the lower side of the guide rail 82 is notched, the sliding surface 585 of the adjustment lever 581 does not contact the guide rail 82, and the guide surface 582b of the pressure contact lever 582 is guided by the pressure contact spring 583. Since the recording head 7 is urged by the rail 82, the recording head 7 mounted on the carriage is rotationally displaced about the guide shaft 81, and the recovery processing unit 6 is rotated.
Can be brought into contact with the cap 61.

That is, when the carriage 50 moves to the recovery processing position and the recording head 7 comes into contact with the cap 61,
As shown in FIG. 12B, the cam shaft 5011 is
1, the carriage 50 is rotated around the guide shaft 81 in the opposite direction to that at the time of contact with the cap so that the carriage 50 is once displaced upward, and then from below the cap 61 to below. The recording head 7 rotates and the cap 61 comes into contact with the recording head 7. At this time, the lower side of the guide rail 82 (the portion of the guide rail that comes into contact with the sliding surface) is cut out, and the guide rail 82 other than the guide surface 582b of the press-contact lever 582 does not abut. As a result, the urging force of the pressure contact lever 582 reliably acts on the guide rail 82, whereby the carriage 50 generates a contact pressure of the recording head 7 against the cap 61.

By changing the sliding surface 585 of the adjustment lever 581, the carriage 50 rotates around the guide shaft 81, so that the distance between sheets can be changed. The top cover 584 is fixed to the carriage 50 with claws on both sides, and holds an adjustment lever 581, a pressure contact lever 582, and the like. Further, the lever tip of the adjustment lever 581 has elasticity, and a convex portion formed on the lower end surface thereof is fitted into a groove 586 (see FIG. 4) formed in the top cover 584 according to the sheet distance position. Thus, the adjustment lever 581 is fixed to form a predetermined distance between sheets.

(Second Embodiment) In the first embodiment,
During the printing scan, the pressing lever 582 always has a gap G with respect to the guide rail 82. However, as shown in FIG. 13, the pressing lever 582 biases the guide rail 82 depending on the position of the adjustment lever 581. Such a configuration may be adopted.

A stopper 581a is formed at the base of the sliding surface 585 of the adjusting lever 581. The end face of the stopper portion 581a is located at the center of the adjustment lever 581 and at the left end when the pressure contact lever 5 is positioned at the left end.
82 sliding surface 581a at a position facing the contact portion 582a
Are formed so that the distances B and C from the first embodiment are the same as those in the first embodiment.
Has a gap of 0.3 mm to 1 mm with the guide rail 82. On the other hand, when the distal end of the adjusting lever 581 is located at the right end as shown in the figure, the distance A ′ between the sliding surface 585 and the portion facing the contact portion 582a of the pressing lever 581 is the distance B, It is smaller than C by at least the gap. Therefore, when the adjustment lever 581 is at this position, the contact portion 582a of the pressure contact lever 582
Does not come into contact with the stopper portion 581a of the adjustment lever 581, and the press-contact lever 582 keeps the guide rail 8
It is biased to 2. Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, and the description thereof is omitted.

For example, when a light recording head is mounted on the carriage 50, the positioning of the carriage 50 with respect to the guide rail 82 during printing scanning becomes unstable only by the own weight of the carriage 50 and the recording head. Therefore, as in the present embodiment, the urging force of the pressure contact lever 582 acts on the guide rail depending on the position of the adjustment lever 581, so that the urging force of the pressure contact lever 582 is applied to a light recording head. Guide rail 8
2 to achieve stable positioning of the carriage 50 with respect to the guide rail 82 during pruning scanning.
In this case, the carriage 5 is different from that of the first embodiment.
Although the sliding load of 0 becomes large, the increase in the sliding load is not so large because the operation is performed for a light recording head.

[0059]

As described above, according to the recording apparatus of the present invention, since the pressing member provided on the carriage is not pressed against the guide means in a range other than a predetermined area of the reciprocating scanning area of the carriage, the carriage can be smoothly scanned. This makes it possible to improve the recording accuracy for coping with the improvement of the image quality such as the reduction in the diameter of the dots and the increase in the number of gradations, and also to improve the durability. On the other hand, since the pressing member is pressed against the guide means in a predetermined area of the reciprocating scanning area of the carriage, the carriage can be displaced with respect to the guide means by this urging force. This allows
In an ink jet recording apparatus in which a recovery processing section is arranged in a predetermined area, a sufficient urging force for covering (capping) the recording head by the cap means can be obtained.
Furthermore, since the load during the reciprocal scanning of the carriage is reduced, the speed of carriage driving can be increased and the size of the carriage driving means can be reduced.

Further, there is provided second guide means for guiding the reciprocal scanning of the carriage, the carriage is provided rotatably about the second guide means, and the positioning member is provided by the weight of the carriage and the recording head. By contacting the guide means, the positioning of the carriage with respect to the guide means can be performed with a simple configuration. Further, by using the guide means as a plate-like rail and the second guide means as a shaft, the device configuration can be made simple and compact.

Further, there is provided a regulating means for increasing the distance between the positioning member and the pressure contact member to be greater than the thickness of the guide means in the direction opposite to both members, and the guide means is bent at one end toward the pressure contact member. Thus, the configuration of the press-contact member that is not urged by the guide means at the portion other than the one end of the reciprocating scanning range of the carriage but is urged by the guide means at one end can be easily realized.

In this case, the positioning member and the pressing member are
The positioning member is disposed so as to abut against the guide means at different positions with respect to a direction opposite to the both and a direction perpendicular to the reciprocating scanning direction of the carriage, and the guide means corresponding to a predetermined area in the movement area of the carriage is abutted. When the recording head is capped, the urging force of the pressing member acts on the guide means reliably, so that a good cap can be performed.

Further, the positioning member is rotatably supported by the carriage, and the positioning members have different distances from the center of rotation, and a plurality of positioning members come into contact with the guide means in accordance with the position of the positioning member in the rotation direction. By having a sliding surface, the position of the recording head can be changed according to the thickness of the recording medium. In this case, the regulating means is formed at a position where the distance from each of the sliding surfaces is equal, and is constituted by a surface that comes into contact with a different part of the pressing member from the part that presses on the guiding means, so that the guiding means and the pressing member are The gap can be managed finely. Further, by forming the surface so that any one of the sliding surfaces is not in contact with the pressing member when the sliding surface is in contact with the guide means, the recording head having a different weight can be applied to the recording head. In addition, the carriage can be stably positioned with respect to the guide means during the printing scan.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a recording apparatus according to a first embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the recording apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a configuration sectional view of the recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a front view of a carriage unit of the recording apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a carriage unit of the recording apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a contact portion and the like of a carriage unit of the recording apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a main part of a recording head attaching / detaching mechanism of a carriage unit of the recording apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of a fitting pin of the carriage unit shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an assembled state of a front end portion of a flexible substrate of the carriage unit illustrated in FIG. 6;

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the positional relationship between the adjustment lever and the press-contact lever of the sheet gap adjustment unit shown in FIG.

FIG. 11 is a front view of the carriage at a recovery processing position.

FIG. 12 is a plan view of a carriage at a recovery processing position and a diagram illustrating movement of a cam shaft.

FIG. 13 is a plan view of a carriage unit according to a second embodiment of the recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a front view, a bottom view, and both side views of the recording head.

FIG. 15 is a plan view of a carriage unit of a conventional recording apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Paper feed unit 3 Paper feed unit 4 Paper discharge unit 5 Carriage unit 6 Recovery unit 7 Recording head 50 Carriage 51 Head holder 60 Pump 61 Cap 70 Nozzle unit 72 Base plate 73 Ink tank 80 Carriage motor 81 Guide shaft 82 Guide rail 83 Timing Belt 84 Idle pulley 86 Cap guide 581 Adjusting lever 581a Stopper part 581b Pin 582 Press contact lever 582a Contact part 582b Guide surface 583 Press contact spring 584 Top cover 585 Sliding surface 801 Pulley 861 Cam part 5011 Cam shaft

Claims (10)

[Claims] A carriage for reciprocally scanning a recording head for performing recording on a recording medium, guide means for guiding the carriage in the reciprocating scanning direction, and opposed to the carriage with the guide means interposed therebetween. In a printing apparatus having a positioning member and a pressure contact member, the pressure contact member is not pressed against the guide means in an area other than the predetermined area in the reciprocating scanning area of the carriage, and is pressed against the guide means in the predetermined area. A recording device characterized by being performed. And a second guide means for supporting the carriage together with the guide means and guiding the carriage in the reciprocating scanning direction, wherein the carriage is provided rotatably about the second guide means. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the positioning member is brought into contact with the guide means by the weight of the carriage and the recording head. 4. The guide means is a plate-like rail,
The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the second guide unit is a shaft. 5. A regulating means for increasing a distance between said positioning member and said pressure contact member to be greater than a thickness of said guide means in a direction opposite to each other, wherein said guide means is connected to said pressure contact member at said one end. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording apparatus is bent toward the recording medium. 6. The positioning member and the press contact member,
The carriage is disposed so as to abut against the guide means at different positions with respect to a reciprocal scanning direction of the carriage and a direction perpendicular to a direction in which the positioning member and the pressure contact member face each other. 6. The recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a portion where the member abuts is notched. 7. The positioning member is rotatably supported by the carriage, and has different distances from the center of rotation, and abuts on the guide means according to the position of the positioning member in the rotation direction. The recording device according to claim 5, having a plurality of sliding surfaces. 8. The restricting means is constituted by a surface formed at a position where the distance from each of the sliding surfaces is equal, and which comes into contact with a different part of the pressing member from a part pressed against the guide means. Item 8. The recording device according to Item 7. 9. The pressing member is arranged such that a distance from any one of the sliding surfaces is different from the pressing member when the arbitrary sliding surface is in contact with the guide means. The recording apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the recording apparatus is formed at a position where the recording apparatus does not contact. 10. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a cap means for covering an ink ejection port of the recording head is provided in the predetermined area.